Marathon: Legend (official thread)

[zero]

I was originally just going to post on the old one from way back, but that got ruined, sigh.
Anyway, here is the new and hopefully final thread for Legend.
The project is somewhat on hiatus, but I really want to get back to it, and I would like to add that much of the central work is done, so this is both an informative thread as well as a "help me plz" thread.

Basically, let's start off with some simple topics.

1. What bothered you about M1 that should be rectified here? M1A1?

2. What was your favorite thing about M1 and/or M1A1 that I should keep in mind?

----Edited because Treellama makes a good point----

[treellama]

1. What bothered you about M1 that should be rectified here?

2. What was your favorite thing about M1 that I should keep in mind?

Are you talking about the original Marathon or M1A1? Because, the more we discover about the differences, the more we realize they are very different games. Many of Marathon's battles and puzzles are ruined in M1A1.

Let me start by asking, have you played the original?

[listener]

I'll help, well, at least what i can do.

As for the M1A1, i havn't played it in a while get back to you on that.

[zero]

Are you talking about the original Marathon or M1A1? Because, the more we discover about the differences, the more we realize they are very different games. Many of Marathon's battles and puzzles are ruined in M1A1.

Let me start by asking, have you played the original?

I actually emulated it in Basilisk II, to see the various differences. I could not play it all the way through, because the mouselook was, to say the least, non functional, with no precise or correct aiming (i don't know why).

Well, I suppose, I was aiming a bit more at M1A1 because I played it the most, but really, if you want to put a response down that pertains to a specific one, then note that.

Actually, hold on, edit commencing.

[zero]

Well, november is on it's way, so I would like to make an edit to the release schedule.
Currently, the final release is at an indefinite release date.
The pre alpha engine sandbox can be expected by the end of the year.
the beta may be released in early 2012

[screamingfool]

title screens or it didn't happen

[zero]

title screens or it didn't happen

I don't really need that yet, in fact, that will be one of the final steps.

Priorities, my friend, I do have them.

On the other hand, once I get some more maps up and running, I'll post more video of it, but if you don't mind seeing a shambled mess of a game, look at my early pre-alpha footage on Youtube.

[zero]

Stop blubbering and show us the title screen.

Not until it's playable.

Titles screens= last step

[Weisscanker]

I was googling for the "early pre-alpha footage" and

[quote=""DADDY Z3RO""][/quote]
I think we can all agree that, based on this evidence, RyokoTK's greatest contibution to the marathon community was TGI's chapter screens.

[zero]

First digital painting, done with a mouse, of course it sucks...
...But could you do better?...

[zero]

I for one love that title screen, and I am a true critic of title screens.

Are you serious? If so, thank you!

[Nordevai]

Its actually fairly decent in my opinion.

[zero]

thank you, but at any rate, Title screens are not going up.
I'll continue to tweak some stuff and grab screenies for you.

[ChristTrekker]

Are you talking about the original Marathon or M1A1? Because, the more we discover about the differences, the more we realize they are very different games. Many of Marathon's battles and puzzles are ruined in M1A1.

I did not know this, but I have not played the original M1 in yeeeaaars now. What are the differences? Are they documented anywhere?

[treellama]

I did not know this, but I have not played the original M1 in yeeeaaars now. What are the differences? Are they documented anywhere?

Many are documented in posts here and on the story forum. Many others are due to the lack of glue, glue trigger, and superglue polygon support in Marathon 2 and Aleph One, as Hamish laments in a recent story forum post.

The differences we've discovered are enough to make me question whether my relative dislike of the first game in the series (which I never finished in that form) is due to M1A1's sloppiness. Sadly, my work on the original file formats is currently stalled; but perhaps once 1.0 is released, you'll have a chance to play something much more like the original.

[zero]

UPDATE-----------

To reduce my workload and allow for some interesting cliffhanger-type moments, Legend will be released in chapters, as opposed to in it's entirety.
Why not just finish it you ask?

Because if I do it this way, I can give you guys a seemingly fully functional experience, without having to necessarily work out every advanced feature in the game.

in each pack, there may be updated shapes, sounds, etc. and I advise you to replace the prior file with the updated ones.

I politely ask all of you not to peek into the shapes or sounds too much, to prevent the possibility of spoiling something.

Each chapter will contain 3-5 SP levels and about 3 MP levels

[listener]

Cool, no huge files to take up my bandwidth!

[zero]

theres a way to look at it!

[gmanyo]

you should just release one level at a time on simplici7y, that way it raises the suspense level even higher

[Shadowbreaker]

How many chapters do you think it's gonna be then? The problem with chapter releasing is that you never know when you're gonna have to go back and change things.

[zero]

How many chapters do you think it's gonna be then? The problem with chapter releasing is that you never know when you're gonna have to go back and change things.

Well it will be a matter of dropping off at critical plot points, allowing for really strong cliffhangers and climaxes.

Example, say you are assigned to retrieve a golden sandwich.
As you traverse deep space to grab it, you are captured by Darth Vader's redneck cousin...

The part where you get yanked in by a tractor beam is when the chapter would end.

I know that that was a ludicrous example, but you get the big picture.

Once I exhaust the entire storyline like this, I'll say THAT'S A WRAP and shipping out the final chapter and the complete set.

HOWEVER.

Because the "complete edit" will be a new .sceA file, your prior saves will be invalidated, so you would want to DL the last few chapters before you get the full set.
And when the big package is released, there will likely be some minor bonus content, like more MP maps.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BUT WHAT ABOUT EVEN MOAR???
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

If you do enjoy the scenario, I wouldn't worry about running out of fun stuff to do in the realm of the scenario, because I intend to release some expansions after I'm done that will further the story of our main character, PFC Adam Jaelus.

[zero]

Release a one level demo soon. That way we can judge the entire scenario based on a small portion of the effort put in.

It takes plenty of effort to make just one singleplayer level. Additionally, the chapter thing is something that ensures that the scenario will get done, and keeps the appetite of the few people who WANT to play it satisfied.